October 14, 2017 — On October 12, 1963, American-born Jesuit Father Walter
Ciszek (1904-1984) arrived in New York after 23 years in Russia, much of it
spent in captivity in Siberian labor camps and Soviet prisons.

To add to the intrigue
surrounding this extraordinary Jesuit's life, Fr. Ciszek's daring release — a
complicated prisoner exchange — was negotiated with the help of President John
F. Kennedy just one month before the president's tragic assassination. Although
Fr. Ciszek's life reads like a Hollywood script, his experience results from
one simple question: Will you devote your life to the service of others? As
Jesuits have for centuries, Fr. Walter Ciszek answered that call.

Fr. Ciszek’s canonization cause was formally opened in March 2012.
The Walter Ciszek
Prayer League, dedicated to the
cause, maintains a museum in his birthplace of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, honoring
Fr. Ciszek’s life. The Fr. Walter Ciszek Prayer League Center will host a Mass this
Sunday, Oct. 15 for Fr. Ciszek Day at 2 p.m.

"Walter Ciszek's work is
a legacy of the frontier spirit of the Society of Jesus. It's the spirit of
'Where is God calling me today?'” says Father Robert Ballecer, who works in
media ministry and previously served as director of the Office of National
Vocation Promotion for the Jesuits.

“Walter Ciszek answered the
call by going to the Soviet Union, Today, Jesuits are working around the globe
on the frontiers — from building schools in Malawi to aiding migrants at a
small border town between the United States and Mexico. That's the spirit of
the Society; that's the spirit of service."

Fr. Ciszek is beloved by American Jesuits, and those who knew him remember his
kindness and humility. Among other tributes, Ciszek Hall, the community of
young Jesuits in "First Studies" at Fordham University, is named for
Fr. Ciszek.
A Call Answered

Born in 1904 in Shenandoah to Polish immigrants, Fr. Ciszek joined the Jesuits
in 1928. The next year, he learned that Pope Pius XI was calling on seminarians
to enter a new Russian center in Rome to prepare priests for work in Russia.
For Fr. Ciszek, it was "almost like a direct call from God."

Missioned to Rome to study theology and the Byzantine rite, Fr. Ciszek was
ordained in 1937, but since priests could not be sent to Russia, he was
assigned to work in Poland. When war broke out in 1939, Fr. Ciszek was able to
enter Russia with false identification papers. He worked as an unskilled
laborer until June 1941 when the secret police arrested him as a suspected spy.

After his arrest, Fr. Ciszek found himself in the infamous Lubianka Prison in
Moscow, where he was interrogated as a "Vatican spy" and sentenced to
15 years of hard labor in Siberia. Although forced to work in a Gulag coal
mine, Fr. Ciszek found ways to hear confessions and say Mass.

Lubianka Prison in Moscow, where Fr.
Ciszek was interrogated.

"For all the hardships and suffering endured there, the prison camps of
Siberia held one great consolation for me: I was able to function as a priest
again. I was able to say Mass again, although in secret, to hear confessions,
to baptize, to comfort the sick, and to minister to the dying," he wrote.

In 1955, Fr. Ciszek's sentence ended early since he had surpassed his work
quotas, and he was freed from the labor camps but forced to live in the Gulag
city of Norilsk, where he worked in a chemical factory. Happily, after decades
of being presumed dead, Fr. Ciszek was finally allowed to write to family
members in the United States.

In Norilsk, Fr. Ciszek and other priests ministered to a growing parish but,
before too long, the KGB threatened to arrest him if he continued his ministry.
Missioned to another city, the KGB quickly shut him down again.

Fr. Ciszek’s arrival in New York in 1963.

Then, in 1963, Fr. Ciszek
learned he was going home. In a release negotiated by President John F.
Kennedy, he and an American student were returned to the United States in
exchange for two Soviet agents. Following his return, Fr. Ciszek worked at the
John XXIII Center at Fordham University (now the Center for Eastern Christian
Studies at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania), until his death in
1984.

Fr. Ciszek’s grave at the Jesuit Center
in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.

Jesuits Called to the Frontiers

Like Fr. Ciszek and his Jesuit brothers, the present-day Society of Jesus is
also called to the frontiers.

Fr. Ballecer explains, "In Fr. Ciszek's time, the frontiers were physical
boundaries, parts of the world we hadn't fully explored. Today, the frontiers
are often in new areas, including media, science and technology. From Jesuits
working with a development team on a particle accelerator in Europe to the
Higher Education at the Margins program, which brings college courses to refugee
camps, Jesuits aspire to serve where the need is greatest."

An Inspiring Life in Service

Over 30 years after his death, Fr. Ciszek's life is still inspiring those
considering a Jesuit vocation, especially through his two books about his life,
“With God in Russia”
and "He Leadeth Me."
A collection of previously unpublished writings, “With God in America,”
was also released by Loyola Press in 2016.

Fr. Ballecer says Fr. Ciszek is more relevant today than he ever was. "A
life in service like Walter Ciszek's means commitment; it means something
that's unknown; it means relinquishing control of your life to something that's
bigger than you. What will you do when someone asks you to do something
difficult, but worthwhile?"

In "He Leadeth Me," Fr. Ciszek wrote: "My aim in entering Russia
was the same from beginning to end: to help find God and attain eternal
life." By devoting his life to serving God and his people, Fr. Ciszek
succeeded in both goals.

March 2, 2018 — In a statement signed on March 2, the Jesuit Provincials of English Canada, Fr. Peter Bisson SJ, and French Canada, Fr. Erik Oland SJ, reacted to the judgments of the courts in the cases of Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie.